Studies of neuromuscular systems are typically concerned with either the synthesis or analysis of human motion (Delp and Loan, A Computational Framework for Simulating and Analyzing Human and Animal Movement, IEEE Computing in Science and Engineering, 2(5): 46-55, 2000; Thelen, Anderson and Delp, Generating Dynamic Simulations of Movement Using Computed Muscle Control, Journal of Biomechanics, 36:321-328, 2003, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety). The synthesis problem, referred to as forward dynamics analysis, attempts to provide the motion of a biomechanical system as a consequence of the applied forces and given initial conditions. The analysis, or inverse dynamics problem, can be viewed as the inverse of the synthesis problem and is conventionally used to estimate joint forces and joint moments. One or more forces or moments at a joint are referred to as joint loads.
In a conventional inverse dynamics analysis, joint forces and joint moments are calculated from the observation of segmental movement. Inverse dynamics analysis is conventionally applied to biomechanics problems because the internal forces of human joints cannot be readily measured. Segment movements, however, can be measured and joint angles can be inferred from the measured displacement to determine the corresponding joint forces and torques. Thus, inverse dynamics analysis is the conventional method used to gain insight into the net summation of all torques and all muscle activity at each joint.
A big challenge with using inverse dynamics in the study of human motion is the error caused by calculating higher-order derivatives to calculate joint forces and moments. Methods for using inverse dynamics concepts in biomechanics are well developed if the input signals are noise-free and the dynamic model is perfect. Experimental observations, however, are imperfect and contaminated by noise. Sources of noise include the measurement device and the joint itself. Inverse dynamics methods for calculating joint forces and moments require the calculation of higher order derivatives of experimental data contaminated by noise, which is a notoriously error prone operation (Cullum, Numerical Differentiation and Regularization, SIAM J. Numer. Anal., 8(2):254-265, 1971, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety). Specifically, the angular accelerations for a three-dimensional segment are the second derivatives of its joint angles and the linear accelerations of the segment are the second derivatives of its center of mass coordinates.
Numerical differentiation of the experimental observations amplifies the noise. The presence of high frequency noise is of considerable importance when considering the problem of calculating velocities and accelerations. When input signals with noise are differentiated, the amplitude of each of the harmonics increases with its harmonic number. When input signals are differentiated, the velocity signals increase linearly, while accelerations increase in proportion to the square of the harmonic number. For example, second order differentiation of a signal with high frequency noise ω can result in a signal with frequency components of ω2. The result of this parabolic noise amplification is erroneous joint force and joint moment calculations.
Although numerical schemes are available to provide estimates of higher order derivatives, the reliability of results is limited since there is no optimal solution or automatic method to filter biomechanical data (Giakas and Baltzopoulos, Optimal Digital Filtering Requires a Different Cut-Off Frequency Strategy for the Determination of the Higher Derivatives, Journal of Biomechanics, 30(8):851-855, 1997, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety). Although techniques exist for filtering the noise, filtering is difficult and time-consuming because much analysis is required to separate the true signal in the biomechanical data from the noise. For example, low-pass filtering is commonly used to reduce high frequency errors. A difficulty in low-pass filtering, however, is the selection of an optimal cutoff frequency fc. Because there is no general solution for selecting optimal filter parameters, filtering techniques often produce unreliable results.
Optimization-based approaches have been proposed to estimate joint forces and joint moments without the errors associated with performing a conventional inverse dynamics analysis (Chao and Rim, Application of Optimization Principles in Determining the Applied Moments in Human Leg Joints during Gait, J. Biomechanics, 6:497-510, 1973, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety). Unlike inverse dynamics, optimization-based methods do not require numerical differentiation. However, the application of optimization-based solutions is limited because convergence and stability are not guaranteed, the methods are computationally expensive, and are generally too complex to implement.
Another problem with using inverse dynamics for analyzing human motion is that the inverse dynamics technique lacks the capability to predict the behavior of novel motions, a problem typically encountered in clinical applications. In inverse dynamics, forces and moments are calculated from observed responses. The prediction of novel motions involves calculating the response expected from the application of forces and moments. An inverse dynamics analysis lacks predictive capability because forces and moments are calculated rather than the expected response from the application of those forces and moments.
Another problem with certain inverse dynamics procedures that utilize only kinematic data is that they utilize whole-body solution. Parametric uncertainties in an upper body portion, including the physical parameters of the upper body portion or the effects of external loads, are significant sources of error in the estimation of joint forces and moments when using closed form, whole body dynamic procedures.
For a three-dimensional body, there is therefore a great need for a system and method for estimating joint loads without the errors caused by calculation of higher order derivatives of kinematic data with noise. What is further needed is a system and method for estimating joint forces and moments that does not necessarily require closed form, whole body analysis. Further, there is great need for a system and method for predicting human motions as a consequence of applied forces.